Robert joined the Navy and earned his commission during World War II. During the war, he was a pilot in Pacific and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. After the war, he served in Canada and Spain. When he retired from active duty in 1963 he was with the Navy's foreign liaison office.2

63, a retired Navy lieutenant commander and former Navy civilian employe who had lived in this area since the early 1950s, died of cancer Sept. 22 at the Hospice of Northern Virginia. He lived in Annandale.

Cmdr. Putman was a native of Frederick, Md., and received a bachelor's degree in business administration at the University of Maryland.

He joined the Navy and earned his commission during World War II. During the war, he was a pilot in Pacific and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. After the war, he served in Canada and Spain. When he retired from active duty in 1963 he was with the Navy's foreign liaison office.

From 1963 until retiring for health reasons in 1980, he worked in a civilian capacity for the old Naval Facilities Engineering Command, where he was a real estate specialist.

Cmdr. Putman was a past patron of Faith Chapter No. 177 of the Order of the Eastern Star in Annandale. He was a Mason. He had been a committee officer of the Broyhill Crest Community Organization in Annandale.

His first marriage, to the former Phyllis Peak, ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife, the former Ruth Coleman, of Annandale; two daughters by his first marriage, Deborah Putman of Springfield, and Susan Fourney of Dallas; his mother, Helen Wiles Putman of Frederick, and a brother, David Wiles Putman of Seabrook, Md.